Hotels I Love: Park Hyatt Tokyo, Japan

If you saw the most famous movie ever made about Japanese whisky, Lost In Translation, you already know the Park Hyatt Tokyo - it is inseparable from the film, about half of which is set inside the hotel. Amazingly, the owners balked at the concept, and director Sofia Coppola and her cast ended up shooting scenes in their own rooms because they had no choice. Public area scenes, including several set in the bar, had to be filmed after hours, so everyone from the fake jazz band to fake customers was fake. In hindsight, almost turning down the movie, which still brings the hotel plenty of business 10 years later, seems like a bad idea. But the reason they did it is a very good idea - they didn’t want to bother their guests. The very notion of caring more about hotel guests - whoever they are - than celebrities would be unheard of in most of LA and most of the world, and that alone is a good reason to consider the Park Hyatt a Hotel I Love. But there are many more - it’s worth adding that the reason Coppola didn’t go someplace accommodating was because she had stayed here and liked the hotel. There’s a lot to like.

For readers unfamiliar with this recurring column, here is the three sentence lowdown: I travel a great deal and stay in many exceptional hotels worldwide, but only the very best make the cut for Hotels I Love. In almost every case these are properties I have visited multiple times over a period of years, so I know great service was not a fluke. It’s not “Hotels I Like,” or even “Hotels I Really Like,” and I only manage to find a few each year that qualify - they have to be that good.

Because it occupies the top 14 floors of a Shinjuku skyscraper, the views from all over the Park Hyatt Tokyo are fantastic. This is the Peak Lounge, one of the hotel bars.

I’ve stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo on three different occasions over the past 17 years, most recently just a few months ago, so I have a pretty good feeling for how it has matured, though in the big picture little has changed. It has always been at the technological forefront - the first time I stayed here, it was the only hotel I’d seen with LaserDisc players in the room, and a loaner library. I couldn’t sleep due to the time difference, so on my first night I called down and had the concierge send up a copy of Terminator. “Cutting edge” LaserDisc has since gone the way of the DoDo, but that has not stopped the hotel from continuing to employ the best available technology and amenities in its rooms, from wet bars to high-end coffee makers to flat screens in the bathrooms to yukata (cotton Japanese robes often erroneously called kimonos). LaserDisc has been replaced by DVD players, high speed WiFi is always free, and rooms include free shoeshine, 24-hour room service and loaner Japanese mobile phones, which is really helpful since many “international” phones don’t work here. And those amenities are standard for the cheapest rooms.

It’s become common now, especially throughout Asia, but the Park Hyatt Tokyo was one of the first hotels set within an office building tower, on the higher floors, so you take an express elevator to the 41th floor lobby, and rooms and facilities go up 14 stories from there. The result of this is stunning views and great cityscapes at any time, and you can also enjoy (on an admittedly rare clear day in Tokyo) views of Mt Fuji while running on the treadmill in the gym.

A guest room at the Park Hyatt Tokyo.

Tokyo has several hotels with excellent white glove service, which is almost inseparable from Japanese culture, and the Park Hyatt is among the elite in this regards. But these are the differentiators that really set the hotel apart:

- It’s location in Shinjuku, near the world’s busiest train and subway station (I walked, 10 minutes, but there’s a free hotel shuttle) makes it easy to get anywhere in the city (or anywhere in Japan). But often you don’t have to go anywhere, since Shinjuku is both a business and nightlife epicenter of Tokyo.

- The spa, Club on the Park, is unbeatable. Bill Murray famously swam laps in the gorgeous signature pool and lounged in one of the hot baths in Lost In Translation but it also has state of the art fitness facilities with tremendous views, locker rooms (separate for men and women) with steam rooms, multiple saunas (different temperatures) and whirlpool baths. For an urban hotel spa, it is top of the class - anywhere in the world.

- Food & Beverage: The New York Bar, the spot made famous in the movie, still gets sightseers every single day as a result, but it is just a great hotel bar, with live jazz many nights, incredible views and excellent cocktails, including one of the largest selections of Japanese whiskies in the city (for the record, many visitors ask for “what Bill Murray had.” He drank Hibiki 17-year old, an excellent blend that is Japan’s equivalent of Johnnie Walker Blue, so expect it to set you back at least $30 a glass. You can read much more about Japan’s excellent whiskies, which are really hot right now, here at Forbes.com). The attached New York Grill specializes in meat, but despite its name, has a broad selection of exceptional Japanese beef, which regular Great Life readers know is virtually non-existent in the US (despite lies about Kobe beef on so many menus). The Peak Bar is a fun and more casual watering hole and the hotel has several other dining options, from formal Japanese to Continental.

- The Building: Beneath the skyscraper that contains the hotel is a multi-level, higher end shopping mall. It’s not big, but it has a fairly impressive variety of restaurants, mostly upscale, all of which can be accessed without ever stepping outside, a definite fringe benefit.

In Lost In Translation, Bill Murray famously relaxed in this bath, part of the world-class spa at the Park Hyatt Tokyo.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Park Hyatt is one of the world’s underrated luxury hotel brands, mainly because the Hyatt name covers everything from pedestrian airport hotels to luxury hotels like this one, an issue brands like Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and Peninsula don’t suffer from. Nonetheless, Park Hyatt holds its own, and at least until the new flagship property in New York opens this year (see my piece on the biggest new hotels of 2014), Tokyo remains the global spokesman for the brand, and it speaks well.

(I was a guest of the hotel, but I was also a guest of other hotels in Tokyo and many others around the world, almost none of which made this vaunted list. Hosted stays are the rule, rather than the exception, in travel journalism today).